Snowboard Kids: The Time Stone
by foxgrapes
Summary: This story bridges Snowboard Kids 2 with Snowboard Kids for the DS. It explores the impact of futuristic visions on Slash, Jam, Tommy, Nancy, Wendy and Linda, as well as their relationships with each other.


Under the sunny sky, Slash was enjoying his lead in a head-to-head race with Jam on the slopes. Having just reached the bottom of the hill, he noticed a girl was just about to board the lift. He was excited to see that it was Nancy, who appeared to have been snowboarding on her own. He tried to get her attention, but was only met with a cold stare as she started riding the seat up to the top of the hill. Just as he was about to get on the next seat, an explosion sent him flying back. As he sat up to brush the snow off of his face, the air was filled with bombastic laughter. He locked eyes with Tommy, whose sinister grin complimented the bright yellow bandana on his head. As Slash heard Jam catch up, Tommy spread out his arms to showcase the destroyed lift behind him. With a sigh, Slash turned to see Jam silently unstrapping his feet from his board, already resigned to spending the beautiful day elsewhere…

"...but we were all older. You were there but you didn't want to talk. And Tommy was thinner, and being a complete jerk..." Nancy's head flooded with confusion as she listened to Slash ramble on. At first she thought this dream of his was just an elaborate excuse he was inventing to explain how she just beat him in their romp on Sunny Mountain. She never thought something like this could be possible.

"Slash", she interrupted, "was I riding on the lift in front of you? And Tommy blew it up before you had a chance to get on?" Slash stared at her for a moment before nodding.

"Slash, I don't know how, but I think we had the same dream last night."

"Whoa, really? That's crazy!" Slash looked around. "Do you think the others did too? Let's wake them up and find out!"

As curious as Nancy was, she convinced him to wait in the town center with her and let them emerge on their own instead. Sure enough, when Jam came around he confirmed that he had the same dream as the two of them.

"Whoa, man," Jam said excitedly, "what if we actually saw the future or something?"

Slash rubbed his chin. "Yeah, imagine that..." He grinned, "you think we got some kind of superpower?"

Nancy didn't like where this idea was going. She did not like was she had to see in this alleged future. It was as if she were a different person. And then there was Tommy...spotting Linda out of the corner of her eye stopped that train of thought.

"Hey, Linda," she called out, "any weird dreams last night?"

Linda paused for a moment before approaching them. "I suppose I did have one. It was pretty cool, I was older, and someplace in America on an exchange program. I remember it much better than most of my dreams. Why do you ask?"

As the others caught Linda up on their shared dream, Wendy approached the group as well, and shared her own dream about some scientific research that went in one ear and out the other. Nancy eventually noticed Tommy at a food truck near the park. He was glancing over at them from time to time. Nancy felt a chill, and got cold feet about having him join this conversation. Maybe they could find out about Tommy's perspective at a later time.

Wendy was highly alarmed that 3 people would have the same dream on the same night. Even more worrying was that she overheard her parents talking about how they also shared the same dream between them. She wanted to hear from more people, as a sanity check if nothing else.

"Hey guys, I was thinking of heading over to the city if you wanted to join me."

Slash pounded his fist, "sounds great! Let's make a race out of it! Loser has to buy everyone else's ice cream!"

The group agreed and headed down the abandoned highway between their town and the city. Wendy was startled by Tommy appearing at the last minute, to whom Nancy extended an invitation to join, but she seemed a little less welcoming than usual. Wendy couldn't exactly blame her, from what she heard about their shared dream. Either way, the race was a simple point-to-point affair, and Jam ended up bearing the price of everyone's ice cream. After Jam handed Wendy her ice cream cone, she quickly walked over to a crowd of people standing in front of a television tuned to a news network.

"...and multiple accidents were reported during the night by drivers stating that they had blacked out after they also received a vision. The police chief has confirmed that these incidents are likely to have occurred at the exact same time. She is asking that citizens stay calm while they investigate possible causes. The health organization is…"

"Hey, are you okay?" Wendy turned to see a concerned Nancy.

"Do you hear this, Nancy? Do you know how improbable these shared dreams are? And that everyone would experience them at the same time?" Nancy didn't say anything, so Wendy went on. "Something isn't right here. What if there's some kind of tear in the space-time continuum? What if reality as we know it is slowly breaking apart? What if we only have moments to live?"

Nancy put a hand on Wendy's shoulder. "Hey, let's not get ahead of ourselves. We don't have much information right now, and maybe we never will. I know this is a bit scary, but let's try to focus on what actually happened, okay?"

Wendy smiled at Nancy's characteristic sympathy. She looked away and sighed. "I suppose you're right." She had to get better control over her thoughts. "My mind has been travelling down a slippery slope. Heh, maybe it's all the snowboarding I've been doing with you guys. But like so many other slippery slopes, this was formed from a single point of reality and drawn outward by conspiracy. I should know better than that."

"That sounds more like the Wendy I know. You have a good mind, and I don't want you draining it on crazy thoughts like that."

Jam purposefully saved Tommy's ice cream for last. It sure was the most expensive order, but fair is fair. Without a word, Tommy took the bowl and began to take a spoonful when Jam steeled himself and broke the silence.

"Listen, about this dream, or vision, or whatever from last night...I don't know how I knew that person was you, but somehow I just knew. I don't know what was going on with you, but if you ever have a problem, I just want you to be upfront with us about it, okay?" Jam certainly didn't want a future where he felt like having to look over his shoulder all the time. He didn't want to admit it, but what he saw within "Tommy" was rather frightening, particularly because right now he was the most gentle boy Jam had ever known. How does someone change that drastically?

"Okay?" Jam repeated a bit more sternly after realizing Tommy had not been at all responsive.

"Okay," Tommy said in between spoonfuls.

"Great," Jam said with some relief as he turned to find Slash and enjoy his own ice cream in peace.

"What is that stuff anyway?" Slash asked while pointing his spoon at Linda's pink dessert.

"It's called sorbet. Wanna try some?"

Slash shook his head, content with his chocolate ice-cream smothered in hot fudge. He was then startled by a sudden whirl of wind shooting past his ear. He looked around trying to find the source. After a moment he saw something behind Linda.

"Hey, I think you've got something on your back."

Linda's face quickly turned into a glare as she reached behind her to grab the paper. "I swear, Slash, if this is another 'Kick Me' sign, I'm going to have…" she trailed off as she looked at the paper. After a few seconds, she yelped and jumped out of her chair. "I have to go," she said in a rush as she grabbed her snowboard.

"Wait up!" Slash yelled as he raced after her. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Jam speeding up to join them as well. Slash had no idea what Linda was after, but his curiosity was getting the better of him. Were they speeding toward Linda's castle?

Everything was a blur around Linda. She faintly registered the grass beneath her snowboard, as well as yelling from behind, but it was as if these things were in a far-off place. Before she knew it, she was staring down the treasury door at home. She would watch her father enter and exit this door many times, always keeping it locked. She knew better than to try to break her way in, opting instead to wait patiently for the day that she would be able to step into this mysterious and special part of her home.

It seemed that today would be that day, but under far different circumstances than she could have ever imagined. She approached the door slowly and put her hand on the knob. Surprisingly, the door was unlocked, but her mind was filled with too much urgency to dwell on that detail. She barged into the room, only to stall again from what she saw.

Across the long room was an elaborate pedestal laying unceremoniously across the floor. Spanning the entire wall just behind it was a stained glass window...or rather, what was left of it. A huge hole left the window almost completely shattered in pieces across the floor. As she slowly approached ground zero, she saw some burn marks beneath the center of the hole. A breeze wrapped around her at the same time as a musty smell hitting her in the face, which she realized must have been rain from the storm last night entering the exposed room. The devastation prevented her from noticing the many trinkets on the walls to her side.

Jam watched Linda observe the destruction in the back of the long room. Suddenly she dropped down to the floor and started bawling. He and the others ran up toward her.

"Hey are you OK?" Nancy asked, making Jam roll his eyes. The answer was pretty obvious. "Linda," he asked, "what was on this pedestal anyway?"

"I can answer that," came a vaguely familiar voice. Startled, Jam looked up and saw a girl standing where there was just an empty corner a moment ago. He listened to Linda's cries taper off as he tried to jog his memory.

"It's Kaede, right? What are you doing here?"

"Yes, Jam. It's been a while since we've all been together," Kaede stated softly as she looked around the room. She turned to Wendy, "Wendy, I haven't had the chance to meet you yet. I am glad to see such a bright girl among us." Wendy waved awkwardly, and Jam figured she already had several questions beckoning to be asked. He was glad to see Kaede clasp her hands together and get to the point.

"On that pedestal sat the Time Stone." Seeing that she had quickly grabbed everyone's attention, Kaede went on. "The mind of whoever possesses it is able to travel through their own past and future. However, they are also able to make the minds of others around them take this same journey, whether those minds are willing or not." In the wake of her dark tone, Jam and the others shared glances with each other. They were all probably thinking the same thing, that they have already been victims of this Time Stone. It sure seemed like a convenient explanation.

"How do you know about this thing, anyway?" Jam asked, gesturing at the forlorn pedestal.

"We have studied it for quite a while. We used to have it into our possession for quite a while until it...ended up here." Her eyes darted away for a second, and it was clear to Jam that there was more behind the relocation of the Time Stone. She continued, "that change unfortunately made it easier for Damien to get his hands on it."

Kaede barely finished her sentence as Linda jumped to her feet and clenched her fists. "Damien! He has the stone? Do you know where he is?"

"We are tracking him down now, but I wanted to get your attention because, frankly, we need more pairs of eyes looking for him. And, you have bested Damien before."

"What if this is some kind of trap?" Jam interjected, looking at the others. "Can't they, whoever they are, work this out themselves?"  
Linda shot a glare at him. "Jam, I'm getting that stone back if it's the last thing I do. I'm supposed to be house sitting while my parents are away. They're going to kill me if they see this!"

"Why? Do they really think you'd make this kind of a mess?"  
"Well...we do kind of throw bombs around at each other, " Slash pointed out.  
"Yeah, but that's just when we're racing."  
"Which is something we've done in this castle before."

"That's true," Jam conceded.

Linda turned back to Kaede. "Let's go get this stone."

Slash nodded, "I'll help too. We can't let Damien toy with people like this." The others voiced their agreement as well. Jam was still a little uneasy. "So what do you want us to do, exactly?" he asked.

They arrived at the base of the mountain. Wendy had never heard of this place before, as there was nothing particularly exciting about it compared to the other mountains. It was not the tallest, and it was pretty far away from civilization, but apparently this was the place where Damien was headed to.

"This is going to take a while for us to climb," Jam noted.

Slash started to reach for his snowboard, "not if we make it a race!"

Wendy inwardly sighed at his constant racing schemes. "Slash, if you haven't noticed, snowboards are used for going down slopes, not up them."

"These ones are different!" Slash said excitedly as he plopped six Tech Boards on the ground. It had been a while since Wendy saw these snowboards that constantly had a fan attached to speed them up. They had agreed that if one person raced with it, then they all did, otherwise it was unfair.

"I was saving up for a long time to get all 6 copies," Slash explained excitedly. "I was saving it for a surprise party or something, but now seemed like a good opportunity."

"Nice job man," Jam complimented. And soon they were in a "race" up the mountain. After a few bumps and scrapes, they had eventually propelled themselves to the top and found a small cave opening, but not before Jam gave a small victory dance.

Inside the cramped cave was a metallic floor, which Wendy guessed was an elevator. Sure enough, there was a switch nearby, which Wendy threw with anticipation. The elevator slowly lowered them down into what looked like a tall warehouse. Wendy could not help but admire this feat. Is this some sort of factory for Damien? Where did he get the resources for it? She noticed on one side of the tall chamber was the robot Damien had used to terrorise her and her friends a while ago. It was still in pieces after they had destroyed it. Wendy was glad he hadn't bothered to fix it up for a second round.

Suddenly the elevator stopped descending. Wendy's relief vanished when she looked the other direction and saw an even taller robot staring at her. There were lines of blue light running along its sleek metal limbs, coming together in the chest of the robot to form a round blue light. She knew this robot was more sophisticated than the last, and had powerful electronics as opposed to being purely mechanical. The horror only intensified as she suddenly locked eyes with Damien sitting at the helm.

He was grinning back at her.

What was he doing here?

That was the question Tommy had been asking himself for a while. Now, being face to face with this devilish brat in his monstrous creation, he was filled with pure regret. He could have just stayed in bed, as he had been wont to do most days. He hated himself for once again giving in to that urge to tag along with the others, even though his existence had barely been acknowledged this whole time. Between the dream from last night, and the current circumstances, Tommy couldn't shake the feeling that he had drawn the short stick in life with no recourse.

Tommy's thoughts were shaken apart by a formidable beam of light that burst from the chest of Damien's creation. Before he could react, he saw Nancy jump in front of the group, holding her tech board in front of her. She blocked the beam with the reflective board, making it bounce back and hit the robot in the torso with a loud thud. Damien screeched in anger. The robot pointed its fists toward them, a bomb releasing from each forearm simultaneously. One bomb hurled straight at slash, who jump up and reflected the shot with his board, grazing the robot's arm before exploding. The second bomb fell short and erupted underneath the elevator, and with a loud grown it started to collapse slowly underneath the group. Wendy threw forward a Slapshot that she had stowed from their earlier "race", striking Damien across the face and making him lose balance within his seat. Linda quickly pulled out a pan and threw it up in the air just before losing her footing. The room was filled with cacophonous sound, between the pan coming down on Damien's head at the same time as the others falling to the ground from the impact of the elevator hitting the floor at an angle. The force of the pan made Damien lose the rest of his balance and he tumbled onto one of the arms of his robot, hanging on by his hands.

There was silence as everyone struggled to find their footing. Tommy was happy to see that the robot looked to be in bad shape. But despite this, Damien started to pierce the air with his laughter.

"What's so funny, blue guy?" Slash called out. "There are six of us and one of you. Just give up already!"

Damien had gotten back up on the robot and was walking toward the cockpit with a coy smile. He gestured at the robot, "Do you have any idea what kind of power I have here? I have a feeling someone has told you by now that I have the time stone. Aren't you curious about how the future you saw last night came to be?"

"This whole thing doesn't make sense," Wendy retorted. "How can there be only a single possible future? There are so many choices we could make to alter its course."

"Guys, just don't listen to him!" Jam yelled. "He's trying to play mind games with us!"

Damien sat back down in the chair of his robot and swung a lever. The robot had its arm swing around and tap its chest, giving out a blast of light that quickly blinded Tommy's vision…

Slash was standing to the side of the stage next to Jam. This was the end-of-the-year school play, and he was filled with anticipation as he waited for the next scene. His eyes locked onto his target, Tommy, who was slowly walking onto the stage in his medieval outfit. He was clearly nervous, which was no surprise as this was his biggest part of the play. All was silent as Tommy stood center stage. Just as he took a breath, Slash gave a grin to Jam, who nodded as Slash gave a big tug at the string he was holding. Tommy's trousers dropped in an instant. Tommy yelped and quickly covered his exposed underpants as the audience rode a crescendo of laughter.

Slash was just joining in the laughter as he was suddenly sent to the floor with a Slap Shot. He saw Jam had fallen too. He rolled over to find Nancy glaring over the two of them. Her angel costume was a stark contrast to the fury in her eyes.

"What is wrong with you people? You've pulled some stupid pranks before but you've really crossed the line this time!"  
Slash could already feel this conversation was doomed. "Relax, it's just a joke. He-"

"A joke? Really? Aren't jokes supposed to lighten the mood? To help people feel better? Do you think Tommy feels better right now?" she thrust a finger toward the stage. As he got to his feet, Slash glanced over and saw that it was empty.

Nancy continued, "I'm so sick of people saying 'it's a joke' as if it's a free pass to be an asshole."

Slash was taken aback. He hadn't heard her use that kind of language toward him before. "Look," he heard Jam say, "it's just a way of having fun. It's what friends do sometimes."

Nancy huffed. "Yeah, right. When was the last time Tommy did something like that to either of you? As far as I know he hasn't lifted a finger against you. He might be the sweetest boy in this school." She looked away for a moment before leveling her glare back on them. "So, yeah, I'm going to go ahead and stay away from people who think it's normal to treat their 'friends' like garbage." She quickly turned around and stormed off…

As the present came back into vision, Damien couldn't help but smile as he watched the others come to. He was quite glad to have stumbled upon that particular moment in the future. Surely this would drive the final nail into the coffin. How could a group of friends possibly stay together after seeing something like that? Finally the payoff for all of his meticulous planning had arrived, and he had his revenge. Now, just like him, some of those brats would come to learn how it feels to be lonely and outcast by your peers. Now they would finally face the scorn of society, and feel the distinct lack of hope in their futile attempt to redeem themselves. Now they would learn they cannot trust others.

Now they would feel his pain.

Nancy was the first to make a move. She walked toward Tommy and gave him a quick hug while asking if he was okay. He did not respond, and instead shrunk away from her.

"It's okay," Nancy continued softly, "whatever happens just know that there are those, like me, who are not out to get you. I promise."

"It wasn't my idea!" Jam blurted out. The group turned to look at him.

"You sure didn't stop it from happening," Linda snarled.

"Well, now that I know it's going to happen, I will."

The group didn't seem convinced. Damien knew the damage had already been done, even if it was caused by something that hadn't happened yet. How sweet it was to tear them apart and barely lift a finger in the process. However, something about the scene seemed out of place. While Damien was starting his process of elimination, the missing piece appeared.

'I'm sorry!" came a yell as Slash suddenly appeared in front of Tommy, making everyone jump back, including Damien. So that's where he was, just using a Ghost to hide himself in shame. How pathetic. It looked like the boy kneeling on the ground had shed quite a few tears.

After a few moments of silence, Slash cleared his throat and apologized again. "It feels weird saying sorry for something I haven't done yet, but I'm saying it anyway. While I enjoy pulling pranks on other people, it's clear that you were an easy target for me Tommy, and I took advantage of it. A lot. I saw the first vision, so I know how it feels to have a target on your back. I know how awful it feels to keep wanting to look over your shoulder because you know there's someone out there after you. You became a bully to me, just like I was a bully to you. I don't blame you."

Slash stood up, and looked away sheepishly. "I'm sorry. I'm not going to be mean to you again."

Linda scoffed. "And just like that, the little prankster is gone? I don't believe that for a second."

Slash gave her a slight smile. "Of course not. I'm just not going to focus on Tommy so much, so he can have a chance to enjoy himself, you know?"

Jam came up to him. "I think I get it. We don't want to trade someone's happiness for the sake of everyone else. We can keep things equal. Or at least try to."  
Slash's smile grew wider. "Yeah, that's a good way of putting it." He turned to look back at Tommy. "I understand if you're mad. I just hope it doesn't have to stay that way forever." Tommy responded with a smile and a quiet "thank you".

Damien looked over at Nancy, who was beaming. She locked eyes with him. "Maybe we owe Damien some thanks too. I think he has just helped us become better friends."

Damien's vision went red with rage and he felt himself shaking. It wasn't supposed to happen like this. It was unfair. He should have never bothered with the stupid stone and just focus on engineering massive machinery instead. How could his creative plan backfire so horribly? It was clear he didn't understand human nature as much as he thought. Suddenly he found himself feeling more alone than ever before. What did he do to deserve being stranded on the surface like this? Before he gave himself time to explore that train of thought, Damien gave out a shout as he forcefully pulled a lever, causing the robot's right hand to fire at the six brats at high speed. Damien's rage was jolted out of him by the sight of a ninja star piercing the robot hand, forcing it off course as it crumbled to the ground in pieces.

"Hey, it's Shinobin!" Nancy yelled out as she pointed a finger at him. Shinobin already knew his lurking would end abruptly, but it was a small price to pay. He knew this was the right moment to act.

"Thanks man. We sure could have used your help sooner, " Jam commented. But Shinobin was focused on the left robot hand, which had predictably fired while everyone had their back turned. Another precise throw of a ninja star dispatched it easily, this time from Kaede coming in from the opposite side of the room. Shinobin was impressed by how far she had come during her training.

"No, you didn't," Shinobin replied to Jam. After all, they had done exactly what he and the others needed them to do. The kids' triumph over the future revealed to them was the best way to prevent some serious consequences.

"I'm starting to feel like they wanted this to happen," Wendy noted to no one in particular.

Jam looked over at Kaede. "Was what I said before true? That you were sending us into a trap?"

Kaede took a moment before responding. "I sent you into a challenge for you to overcome. Do you feel you are a better person for it?"

"Well, I guess so," Jam admitted.

"It's not over yet!" Screeched Damien from his wrecked robot. As Shinobin watched him furiously pulling at various levers, he did not see anything happening. Clearly Damien was getting flustered.

"Give up Damien, your robot isn't going to hurt anyone anymore," came an unfamiliar voice. Shinobin turned to see a girl with large glasses and an even larger smile had appeared out of nowhere. She was holding a large flashlight in one hand, and the Time Stone in the other.

"Wow, you got to it that fast? Nice job Wendy!" Slash complimented. "That shrink ray is sure useful." Shinobin was also impressed by this girl's clever thinking, but knew better than to think Damien would stay idle for long. Shinobin quickly jumped behind him and threw an Icicle to freeze him in place. Now there was only one last thing to resolve.

Linda walked up to Wendy, but paused when she saw Kaede doing the same. They both stopped and looked at each other.

"So...are you going to let me take the stone back? Or do I have to fight you for it?" Linda asked Kaede as she held a steady gaze. Shinobin had already made up his mind and leaped down from the robot. "Kaede, let her keep it," he commanded. Kaede reluctantly came over to him to help carry the frozen demon boy away. Not only did he want to prevent a superfluous feud, but he knew Linda's father, being a former ninja, would continue to keep the stone with reverence. Linda didn't need to know about that, of course, just like she didn't need to know that Damien had also worked with the organization as an apprentice, only to be cast out with more knowledge of their secrets than he anticipated.

As the two ninjas lifted him out of the cockpit, Shinobin knew he had to come up with the appropriate resolution for Damien. He pondered if the best choice was to return the boy to wherever he came from. Unfortunately they never figured out how Damien appeared here in the first place, so they would likely have to confine him for some time while they attempted to do some research...

"...so, I'm sorry dad. I failed to protect your most precious item from harm," Linda said with her head hung over the Time Stone in her hands. She felt some relief being upfront with the theft. Chances were slim of it going undetected, anyway. While she had help from the maids putting up a temporary tarp in the treasure room, she doubted that she could get the window repaired on her own and also have everything exactly the way it was.

Her mom was the first to respond, leaning in to give Linda a small hug. "I'm just glad you're safe, Lin." Linda looked up to see the unexpected sight of her father smiling.

"Yes, I'm glad you are okay," he agreed. "It sounds like you had quite the adventure. I have no doubt that you fought hard to get that stone back. I'm proud of you."

Her mother grabbed her father's bag with her own. "I'll get our things unpacked and then you can give us all the details". As she walked away, Linda's father reached out his hands. Linda lifted up the stone for him to take, but he came in for a hug of his own. "It is you who are my most precious item," he assured her before relieving her of the powerful gem. "I'll keep this on me for now. Clearly our treasure room needs some better protective measures."

Linda's curiosity got the better of her. "Hey dad, have you ever used it for yourself?"

Her father's gaze returned to its usual stern self. "Yes. And I would suggest you resist the temptation to do the same. Seeing the future can make you make poor choices. And enough uses of the gem could drive someone insane."  
Linda wondered if there was a story to that, but she didn't want to press too hard. Judging by how crazy Damien appeared, she was inclined to take his word for it. She wondered what the ninjas would do with him, and also wondered if it would really be the last time he bothered them...


End file.
